Job seekers pin hopes on Career and Leadership Development Center's board

Sep 19, 2013Rachel Sayers

The Ohio University Career and Leadership Development Center (CLDC) is hard at work expanding their approach to reaching a new generation of tech-savvy young leaders. Through the use of Facebook, Twitter and most recently, Pinterest, CLDC has broadened both the scope and presentation of its information on navigating the professional world.

"When I came on board I wanted to rebrand social media," said Julia Fleming, assistant director for employee relations at CLDC. "I was researching social media and came across a program like ours using Pinterest. We decided to try it out."

Pinterest is an online social media site that utilizes "pins" – images, with a brief description that link back to web pages – and is the fastest growing social platform in the world, according to GlobalWebIndex. Users create a profile, build unique boards to organize their pins and then choose to follow the boards of other users to produce a feed of content from those they follow.

The CLDC Pinterest board, which was created in November 2012, was designed with boards that benefit young professionals. Today, the page boasts more than a 100 followers, everyone from students to the career services of other universities, providing information on professional dress, interviewing tips, resume advice and motivational quotes, to name a few.

"During my job search process, I definitely needed encouragement and the CLDC continuously provided it, online and in person," said Heather Bartman, a recent graduate of Ohio University who followed the page. "The content also makes the office seem more accessible to students who don't get to the fifth floor of Baker every day. I think it makes the CLDC staff seem more familiar and approachable when students are able to "hear" from them anywhere."

According to Melaina Lewis, social media coordinator at CLDC, the Pinterest account is a hit, and numbers are continuously growing. Lewis is working diligently to expand the account, spending several hours on Pinterest every day pinning information and brainstorming new ideas. The latest addition will be a career fair board, linking followers with information on potential employers.

"The two major events for CLDC are the career fairs we host in the spring and fall," said Lewis. "Over 100 employers come from all over to meet with students and alumni, and I'm going to use a new board to pin information about the various companies that are represented, giving a little bit of history and background information to hopefully inform and connect the students, alumni and employers even more."

The Fall Career Fair will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 24 in the Baker University Center Ballroom, with Interview Day following on Sept. 25. Students are encouraged to wear professional attire, examples of which can be found on the CLDC's Pinterest account.